Ofer Hugi ( he, עופר חוגי, born 17 April 1964) is a former

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i politician who served as a

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

member for

Shas Shas ( he, ש״ס) is a Haredi religious political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, it primarily ...

from 1999 to 2003, and again for just under a month in 2006. In 2007, he was sent to prison for various charges related to forgery and fraud.

Background

After finishing school, Hugi was

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

into the

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces * Irish Defence Forces * Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 * Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations * Israeli Diving Federation * Interac ...

, where he attained the rank of Staff Sergeant. After completing his service, he studied for a B.A. in Rabbinical Ordination, and went on to work as an administrator.

Political career

Hugi joined

, a

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' ( he, מזרחי) has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''Eastern'', it may refer to: *Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberian P ...

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

ultra-Orthodox Haredi Judaism ( he, ', ; also spelled ''Charedi'' in English; plural ''Haredim'' or ''Charedim'') consists of groups within Orthodox Judaism that are characterized by their strict adherence to ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions, in oppos ...

party. He was elected to the Knesset in the

1999 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1999. * 1999 electoral calendar Africa * 1999 Algerian presidential election * 1999 Botswana general election * 1999 Beninese parliamentary election * 1999 Central African Republic presidential elect ...

when the party won an unprecedented 17 seats, making it the third-largest party after

One Israel One Israel ( he, ישראל אחת, ''Yisrael Ahat'') was an alliance of the Labor Party, Meimad and Gesher created to run for the 1999 Knesset elections. Background One Israel was formed by Labor leader Ehud Barak in the run-up to the 199 ...

(the Labour Party) and

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon ...

. However, Hugi lost his seat in the 2003 elections when the party was reduced to 11 seats (he was 12th on the list), possibly as a result of the party's growing reputation for corruption, several of its members having been convicted of various fraudulent offences. He did briefly enter the Knesset at the end of April 2006 after Shas MK

Yair Peretz Yair Peretz ( he, יאיר פרץ, born 1954) is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Shas from 1999 until being convicted of fraudulently obtaining an academic degree in March 2006. Biography Born in Morocco in ...

had resigned from the Knesset after being convicted of fraud (he had fraudulently obtained an academic degree), but the Knesset was dissolved on 17 April, and Hugi did not win a seat in the 2006 elections.

Conviction

After replacing an MK who had been convicted of fraud, in December 2006, Hugi was found guilty of aggravated forgery, using forged documents (by recording a fictitious salary for his wife, he avoided income tax), receiving items through fraudulent means, false registration of a corporation, and attempting to receive items through fraudulent means (including Education Ministry funding for student transportation). This was in relation to a technical college which he founded in the late 1990s, and had received hundreds of thousand of

shekels Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...

for, though it later became apparent that the lists of students and teachers he had provided were fictitious. In February 2007, Hugi was sentenced to two years in prison, and ordered to pay a fine of 12,000 shekels.Ex-MK Hugi sentenced to two years in jail for embezzlement
Haaretz, 19 February 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hugi, Ofer 1964 births Living people Israeli Orthodox Jews Israeli politicians convicted of fraud Members of the 15th Knesset (1999–2003) Members of the 16th Knesset (2003–2006) Shas politicians Israeli politicians convicted of crimes

Background

Political career

Conviction

See also

References

External links